A woman who helped to rebuild a Dutch island devastated by flooding half a century ago is appealing for fellow project workers to get in touch.

More than 280 people drowned when Schouwen Duiveland Island, in south west Holland, flooded in 1953.

Rose Wall (nee Kilburn) was selected by the Bradford Branch of the United Nations Association in 1955 to go to the island to help Dutch people who had lost their friends, family and homes. Just 18 at the time, Rose said she found the visit to the island an adventure but far from a holiday.

In the two weeks she was there Mrs Wall, along with her friend Enid Benson, helped to build three bungalows for elderly people and a playing area for children in the village of Nieuwerkerk.

Mrs Wall, now 66, recently returned to the island with her husband Maurice, 67, to see if the houses were still standing.

To her surprise, not only were they there but the road had been named UNA Straat (Street) after the workers.

A plaque mounted on the wall said the houses had been built by volunteers.

And a new museum has also opened on the island called the Watersnood - meaning flood - in time for the 50th anniversary of the disaster.

Mrs Wall, a student teacher at the Margaret MacMillan Training College, Bradford, at the time of the expedition, said the island was almost unrecognisable now.

"All those years ago the village resembled a building site," she said.

"When I went back it was a shock to see the streets and gardens laid out. It looks very prosperous now."

She wants to trace other UN Association volunteers who went to the island in 1955. She particularly wants to get in touch with J Roper, who was a youth worker at Allerton Methodist Church.

She said: "I think other volunteers would be interested to know that the museum has been built and I would love to tell them about it.

"I would also like to return to the island again at some point, perhaps with other volunteers, to take a closer look at the museum."

Rose can be contacted on (01947) 600584.